Battle of the Basque Roads

The Battle of the Basque Roads was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy which was fought from 11 to 24 April 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars. The British fleet of James Gambier attacked the French Atlantic fleet of Zacharie Allemand at the mouth of the River Charente in southern France, and the maverick captain Thomas Cochrane oversaw a great victory over the French flotilla by making use of fireships. However, Gambier's excessive caution resulted in the British fleet's failure to destroy the entire French Atlantic fleet in a single battle, and Cochrane proceeded to resign from the Navy when a court-martial presided over by corrupt aristocrats of Gambier's breed found him innocent.

Background
In February 1809, the French Atlantic fleet under Admiral Zacharie Allemand attempted to break out of the British Channel fleet's blockade of Brest and reinforce the garrison of Martinique in the Caribbean. The British blockade squadrons sighted and chased the French fleet, which was unable to escape from the Bay of Biscay and was forced to anchor at the Basque Roads near the naval base of Rochefort, where they were blockaded throughout March 1809. Admiral James Gambier hastily assembled a fleet to confront the French flotilla at the mouth of the Charente River, and the Admiralty directly sought out its most dauntless captain, Thomas Cochrane. At the Palace of Whitehall, Admiral Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave met with Cochrane to discuss strategy, and Cochrane devised a plan to use fireships to attack the French fleet. While Cochrane despised Gambier, he begrudgingly sailed HMS Imperieuse to join his fleet on 3 April. Cochrane detested the evangelical Christian Gambier, who had his troops study the Bible rather than prepare for battle, and Rear-Admiral Eliab Harvey was court-martialled for insulting Gambier.

Battle
By 10 April 1809, the two fleets were readying for battle, standing 9 miles apart from each other. The French fleet of 11 ships of the line and 4 frigates were organized into two rows between the Ile d'Aix and the shallow Boyart Shoal, and they were aided by fully-operational gun batteries on the island's northern edge. Cochrane convinced Gambier to transform the transport ships in his fleet into fireships and explosive vessels, packing 15,000 barrels of gunpowder and 3,000 hand grenades into the ships; this would give the crew 15 minutes to flee in a lifeboat before the destination. The next day, the British realized that the French had become aware of the British fireships and set up a great chain, sending 70 canoes to the boom to tug any fireships out of harm's way. On the dusk of 11 April, the coastal seas were turned into a choppy tempest, and Gambier approved the fireship assault. Cochrane sent three explosive ships to the French chain, with Cochrane taking the lead while commanding one of the ships. At 8:30 PM, Cochrane had his men evacuate the ship before lighting the fuse himself, and his men rode vigorously against the currents; Cochrane turned back around to save his mascot dog before sailing off again. A floating bomb hit the French chain, tearing the vessel apart and shredding the massive chain. 10 minutes later, a second explosive vessels' eruption annihilated the French canoes. While the third explosive vessel ran aground, 20 British fireships began their way down the channel. The french frigate Vanguard turned and fled towards the remainder of the French fleet, and bad weather forced the abandonment of several fireships. Of 20 fireships, 4 made it into the French anchorage, and the 74-gun Regulus was struck by a fireship, causing it to crash into Tourville. Several more French ships caught alight due to rocket fire, and men drowned while diving overboard to escape the flames. Of 14 French ships, all but 2 had been damaged and run aground on the nearby mud flats. Cochrane was angered when Gambier refused to let him pursue the 2 remaining French ships, and, by noon, 5 French ships had been put back afloat and retreated to the Charente River. Cochrane committed a blatant act of insubordination when he led HMS Imperieuse to take on the entire French fleet by itself, and Gambier was forced to send five frigates and two ships of the line to support him. One French ship sunk, two were captured, and another French ship was scuttled, and the battle was a great victory for the British, who did not lose a single ship. Unfortunately, the majority of the French Atlantic fleet survived to fight another day.